Shelf construction



Sept. 30, 1969 L. E. EVERETT SHELF CONSTRUCTION Filed June 2, 1967 Q \m. V

INVENTOR.

LYNN E. EVERET'f All-orneys United States Patent 3,469,543 SHELF CONSTRUCTION Lynn E. Everett, New Philadelphia, Ohio, assignor to Childs Equipment Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 2, 1967, Ser. No. 643,180 Int. Cl. A47b 57/16, /00

US. Cl. 108144 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is directed to a display shelf mounting bracket assembled with the shelf whereby the bracket is selectively locked in shelf supporting position or foldable flat upon the shelf for shipment.

Background of the invention Summary of the invention The invention provides a shelf supporting bracket comprised of a single flat sheet of metal having at one end conventional shaped lugs for reception in the conventional upright shelf supporting members and an offset intermediate portion rotatably engaged with a conventional U-shaped rigidifying rib for selectively maintaining the bracket in erected shelf supporting position or folded flat upon said shelf rib for shipment.

Description of the drawing FIG. 1 of the drawing shops a top plan view of a portion of one end of a conventional shelf showing the supporting bracket in assembled relation thereof; FIG. 2 shows a portion of the underside of the shelf and the relation of the supporting bracket thereto; FIG. 3 shows an enlarged end elevation of FIG. 1 with the bracket in shelf supporting position and illustrating the assembly of the bracket and shelf; FIG. 4 shows a view of FIG. 2 similar to FIG. 3 with the bracket folded upon the underface of the shelf; FIG. 5 shows a bottom plan view of the shelf and bracket of FIG. 4; FIG. 6 shows a section taken on lines VL-VI of FIG. 3; FIG. 7 shows a section taken on lines VIIVII of FIG. 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the shelf, indicated generally at 1, comprising a planar top surface 2 for support of articles to be displayed thereon and defined by depending front and rear side flanges 3 and 4 and depending end flanges 5. Underlying the shelf surface 2 is generally channel shaped member 6 having laterally extending flanges 7 abutting the underside of surface 2 and preferably attached thereto by suitable fasteners such as screws 8. As best shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 the shelf surface 2 is defined, at each end thereof, by depending flanges 5 which terminate in the re-entrant portions 9. These latter re-entrant flange portions 9 terminate short of the vertical planes of the ends of the channel member 6 and a shelf suporting bracket 10 is disposed transversely of each end of the shelf within such space.

The shelf supporting bracket 10 is of a general form 3,469,543 Patented Sept. 30, 1969 ice known in the art, having at one end 12 a known configuration for engagement with suitable slotted openings in known forms of vertical supports (not shown) upon which the shelving 1 is mounted for the display or storage of articles placed upon the shelf. Normally the bracket 10 depends below the shelf, in mounted position upon said supports, and when packaging a plurality of shelves for shipment would make a bulky package if the bracket were rigidly secured beneath the shelf. In the present invention, as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the bracket 10 is suitably connected with the shelf to permit folding these brackets substantially flat upon the shelf rigidifying channels 6.

As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, brackets 10 are of suitable thickness to support the loaded shelf and are disposed within the space defined by the adjacent ends of channel 6 and the shelf flange 9. Intermediate the end of bracket 10 a tongue portion 11 is cut on three sides thereof and deflected outwardly to lie within the adjacent open end of channel 6. If desired the said tongue portion 11 may be cut from the bracket 10 and rewelded into the position shown. In assembling the brackets 10 with the shelf 1, the brackets may be assembled with the channel 6 as shown in FIG. 6 and thereafter the channel 6 may be attached, at each end, to the shelf 1 by means of fasteners 8. When the brackets 10 are in erected position as shown in FIG. 5, the shelf flanges 9 and adjacent end of channel 6 retain the shelf against lateral deflection relative to the brackets. When the brackets 10 are in folded position as in FIG. 6 the tongue 11 prevents separation of the bracket from the shelf.

It will be observed from the foregoing description that the customary shelf rigidifying channel 6 serves to retain the bracket 10 in operable position by engagement therewith of the bracket tongue portion 11. By reason of the tongue being freely received in channel 6 the bracket 10 is readily and easily moved into either folded or erected position. When in erected position the bracket 10 has limited movement in a direction longitudinally of the shelf, between the adjacent end of shelf flange 9 and adjacent end of channel 6. When bracket 10 is folded down over channel 6, the shelf flange 9 overlies the adjacent end of the bracket to retain it in place during packaging and shipment.

I claim:

1. In a shelf and supporting bracket combination for display of merchandise, in combination,

(a) shelf means having a planar top surface and two depending end flange means which terminate in reentrant portions underlying said top surface in vertically spaced parallel relation thereto,

(b) open-ended means attached to the bottom face of said shelf means planar top surface and terminating in horizontal and vertically inward spaced relation to said top surface end flange re-entrant portions,

(c) a shelf supporting bracket disposed beneath and transversely of each end of said shelf between the adjacent ends of said open-ended means and the shelf re-entrant end flanges,

(d) means on each of said shelf supporting brackets intermediate the ends thereof and projecting therefrom within the adjacent end of said open-ended means for movably connecting the bracket with said shelf, and

(e) whereby each said brackets may be alternately maintained in shelf supporting position between said open-ended means and the adjacent underlying reentrant shelf flange or folded downwardly over the adjacent end of said open-ended means and beneath said shelf re-entrant flange for packaging and shipment.

2. The shelf and supporting bracket combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said open ended means underlying said shelf means comprises a continuous channel shaped member having oppositely diverging flanges secured to the shelf means and serving as a reinforcement therefor against deflection under loading placed on the shelf planar top surface.

3. The shelf and supporting bracket combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said shelf supporting brackets comprises a strip metal body portion having a top portion engageable with the said shelf means and having one end portion extending beyond said shelf means for selective engagement with vertically disposed shelf bracket supporting means.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner 10 ABRAHAM FRANKEL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

